Messages
by nothingspecial1163
Summary: When Jake Baker recieves a disturbing email and a physical threat, he is left traumatised and weakened. But knowing his mystery attacker's next victims are his brother and sister, Jake sets out on a desperate mission to save them both before it's too late
1. Prologue

Jake Baker sat down at his desk. A large pile of unorganised clutter sat before his laptop. Jake used the side of his arm to push the pile off the edge onto the carpet. It sat firmly in a heap. Jake smiled to himself and unclicked the latch on the laptop. The screen flashed up and played it's startup tune. One click onto the internet client and Jake's emails flashed up. The small mail symbol was flashing yellow. Jake scrolled the mouse down to it and clicked. An email opened from;

_//unknown-address//_

'That's weird' Jake thought. He ignored the address fault and scrolled through the message. He leaned back in his chair, shocked by the contents.

_Jake Baker._

_I'm coming to get you._

_Just wait._

_It won't be long._

_I'm going to kill you._

Then what Jake saw next shocked him most. Below the text was a small video. It had no countdown timer...it was a live feed. Of a guy. Of Jake. Right now. Someone was watching him. Jake turned sharply to glance at the window. A small paper note was stuck on with tape. Jake leapt up and grabbed the note, ripping it open. It read;

_Jake Baker. What a fine young boy, too bad I know what you did. You sold me out. Now I'm going to kill you. Slowly. Painfully. And most importantly, brutally. I'll make you scream until your throat bleeds right...._

Jake tossed the note away, afraid to read the rest. He slumped onto his bed, crashing into the soft mattress

'This is just too weird. Jake had never done anything to anyone before. Nothing that didn't have just cause.' He thought to himself. Feeling slightly less scared, Jake rose to his feet and slid slowly to the window. He bent his head around the window frame to see out....

_SLASH_

Jake crumpled to the floor seering pain flooding over his left arm. Something had struck him hard. Jake squinted down at the floor. There lay a knife, doused with his blood. The silver glinted ruby in the bright sunlight, Jake could feel his conciousness slipping away. It was just a cut. Shallow. But not too bad. And then he looked down, the red drops were pouring now, a river a blood. A second knife had landed in Jake's gut and as he fell to the ground he had knocked it out of place, the first knife was just a distraction.

"_Mom!"_ Jake called out feebly, his voice slipping away. His vision became blurred and now all he could see was an image. Faint as it was, he could make out his seven-year-old brother Mike.

"_Mi...mik...."_ But his voice was gone, his eyes heavy and the image of Mike was different. Jake's blood was smeared across it. The last thing he saw was a hand, slamming into his jaw.]

**DARKNESS.**


	2. Nora

Jake awoke slowly, a numbness flowed over his entire body. His arms were stiff, and the left one was slightly sore, as was his stomach. He glanced, around, his vision slowly, but surely, returning. A faint beeping filled his head. It's consistency was reassuring. Jake jerked his head to the right. It was a hospital. Medical. White. And clean. Very clean. His head rocked down towards his chest and Jake noticed his mother lying down. Her head was rested upon the bed, just next to Jake. She was asleep.

"_Mom?"_ Jake called out, his voice groggy. It felt as though he had been asleep for a while. Kate shuffled softly and her eyes swung open. Tears began to form and her smile broadened. She cupped her hands over her face, trying to hide the tears.

"Jake! I thought I'd lost you, baby." She grasped him tightly, he could smell the perfume on her. It wasn't as organised as her usual scent, but it was still comforting. A small click of the door and a young doctor was walking towards Jake. He, too, was smiling.

"Jake Baker?" Jake nodded slowly at his name. "Welcome back, little man. We thought you were trying to leave us for a minute there." The doctor smirked, his perfect, white teeth glinting in the light. He shook his head soflty, whilst observing some notes. After a minute of two, the doctor ran his hand through his cropped blonde hair.

"So, how did you get so many scrapes, buddy?" Usually, Jake would have found the doctor's tone condescending and irritating, but now it was just nice to listen to someone who was genuinely pleasant. Jake turned his head away from the doctor, trying to focus on his distant memories. Jake read out everything he could remember in sequence, his voice more controlled now,

"I remember blood. Lot's of blood. And a knife or there could have been more than one. I was in my room and the computer. Something about the computer. I was scared, really scared. Like totally scared. I tried to hide. But something got me. Hurt me. I didn't realise how bad..." Jake trailed off, unable to continue his thoughts. He looked back at the doctor, who was writing notes on a pad.

"Alright, that's great, Jake. You just rest up. I'm gonna go ahead and pass these notes on the cops, but they might still wanna talk to you. Are you up to that?" Jake looked away again, nervously.

"No." He replied bluntly. The doctor smiled soflty.

"That's alright, they won't try to talk to you until you give us the go ahead. For now just rest. You've been asleep for a couple of days, your body needs to wake up, that's all. See you in about an hour. If you need anything..." Kate stood up, smiled and answered for Jake.

"Don't worry, I'll get you. That buzzer thing is on Jake's bad side." The doctor smiled and continued conversing with Kate, while Jake continued to try to remember. There was picture. Of someone. A friend maybe? No that wasn't it. It was family. His Dad? Nope; Henry, no, Kyle, no, Nigel, no...or was it Charlie? It could have been Charlie. But then the image became more clear. Jake remembered the blood smear.

"Mike!" He yelled out. Both his mother and the doctor turned back to him. Their looks confused but intrigued.

"Mike's here, honey. Why, what's wrong?" Kate asked. Jake shook his head.

"No, Mom, there was something else. A picture, of Mike. It was covered in blood...I mean someone covered it in blood. My blood. It was a warning. I think they're gonna hurt Mike." Jake said, his voice panicky. The doctor walked over next to Jake and placed a hand, comfortingly, on his shoulder.

"Calm down, Jake. Mike's fine, he's just waiting for you." He looked down at Jake's expression and assessed the course of action. "I could get him for you, if you want?" Jake nodded furiously. The doctor turned back to the door and Kate followed. With one last smile and a wave, Kate left to get Mike.

Jake lay still. He was worried. Whoever had attacked him, was waiting. They were going to hurt Mike. To destroy Jake's life from the inside out. Since Mike was his closest sibling, he would be first. Attack the closest first. He had to stop that. He couldn't tell the cops, in these situations they're usually too late. But if Mike got hurt, Jake would rather die. He had to get his brother away from here.

The door clicked open again and in came Nora with a bleary eyed Mike. She was carrying Mike across her body, but as he saw Jake, he struggled out onto the ground and wandered over to Jake. He placed a hand softly on the bed and stared up at Jake. His eyes were wide and curious and though he said nothing, Jake knew what he would have physically said. Jake nodded and smiled and Mike turned away. He climbed up into the chair by the bed and lay from the chair onto the bed. Jake placed his hand on Mike's head, as he felt his brother slip softly into slumber.

Nora, too, wandered over to Jake and smiled. Her blonde hair lay loose and messy about her shoulders, she looked as though she hadn't slept.

"How are you, Jake?" She asked. Jake nodded and shrugged. His eyes widened, as though he were asking a question.

"Bud's at home with baby Tom and Kyle, Nigel, Kim and Jessica are there too. Me and Mom stayed here with Lorraine. Charlie said he'd be up in the morning and Mark, Sarah and Henry are at home with Dad. Mom just went to call them. They were so worried, your room's a crime scene." Nora smiled and giggled soflty. Jake lay for a moment in silence. He and Nora listened to Mike's quiet breathing. Jake then turned back to Nora, his face empty and serious.

"Nora? I have to ask you something." She looked more focused.

"Anything." She replied. Jake signalled for Nora to come closer and she did, leaning in close to Jake.

"Someone's gonna hurt Mike, unless we help him. I need you to...get me away from here."

"No one's gonna hurt Mike, you're completely..." Nora's words were cut off by Jake's expression. His eyes were wide and scared, his hands trembling. Nora clutched one as she turned around. Stuck to the window was an image of Nora, with blood smeared across it, in the same manner that Mike's had been. A faint tapping on the window, awoke Mike. He squinted at the window.

The tapping was coming from a hand. A gloved hand. Black leather sheathed it. Nora, Jake and Mike followed their vision up the arm to a face. A clown's mask hung from the man's face. Mike covered his eyes in fear. The mask appeared to be smiling cruelly at them. The hand rose from the window and pointed one finger at Nora and called out her name.

"NORA!" With the second syllable of her name, the window blew open, glass spraying over the three. The lights blew out, shrouding them in complete darkness. Nora gripped tightly onto Jake and Mike. A cold breeze whipped around them and the door opened once more. There stood the doctor, Lorraine and Kate. Their eyes wide and their mouth's hung open in shock. The doctor charged from the room to get several police officers, while Lorraine and Kate ran over to Mike, Nora and Jake, checking they were all OK. Tears streamed down Mike's face. Two burly police officers charged into the room, in the same hurried manner that the doctor had left in. One inspected the lights, while the other hopped out of the window, his torch leading his way into the darkness. The doctor returned with nurses with lamps. They shone them over the entire room, lighting it as though the lights were working.

Nora leaned closely into Jake and whispered in his ear,

"I'll get your clothes, you get Mom and Lorraine to leave."


	3. Leaving

Jake sat up perched on the edge of the hospital bed. His back was rigid and tense. Nora should have been back by now. She said she would get his clothes, he would get changed and they would leave. Mike wiggled around in the chair, sweat rolling from his brow. Over the course of the last hour, Mike had been haunted by nightmares of the face that would be burned into all three of their minds. The clown face. The smile. The laugh. It's raspy voice, that had declared Nora would, too, be the next victim. Jake shook his head. He couldn't let anything happen to his brother and sister because of him. The thoughts evaporated and Jake suddenly felt very ancy. He rose from the bed, slowly; the pain was still quite bad, but the medication reduced it mostly to a gentle nagging.

He walked slowly to the door and looked out. There, sitting on the middle seats in a row of chairs, was Kate and Lorraine. They had refused to leave since the attack, and since the police had found no trace of anyone, it was rather unnerving for them to try to piece together what had happened.

_Tap, tap, tap._

The noise caused Jake to leap to the bed and wrap his arms tightly around Mike, who was shaking. The noise had woke him once again, like a terrifying reminder. Jake rose his head slightly, taking a large gulp of oxygen. At the window stood...

Nora. She was standing there, smiling sympathetically. In one hand were Jake's clothes and in the other, was her car keys. She tapped once more on the window, indicating for Jake to open it. He clambered from the bed and unhooked the dusty latch from it's resting place. Nora pulled the window open and slid in sideways. She stood for a moment, silence clouding the room and the three's thoughts.

"I called Bud." Nora interjected, cutting through the tense, noiseless environment. Jake tilted his head up, a puzzled look on his face. Nora forced a small smile out again.

"I told him to take care of Tom. And that I'm sorry." Jake smiled as Mike rubbed his eyes, trying to wake himself up. "I said, if anything happens...." Nora forced back her sobs of pain and regret, "If anything happens...I want him to go. Far away. The family should probably stay in small groups...for safety." Jake looked away from her face, he could feel his nose twitching. He just wanted to cry. To let it all out. Everything. The emotion. The pain. Let it convulse into a mass of his pain and leave him be. Erase his memories. Start afresh. But that couldn't happen now. He had to protect Nora and Mike.

* * *

Jake changed into his clothes quite quickly, Nora helped him get his shirt on, over the wound dressings. He told her that his arm had begun to sting, so she grabbed some pain medication from the side drawers, anything she could find, and stuffed it into her purse. Jake decided to wear the hospital gown over his clothes, just incase anyone saw them leaving. He slid his sneakers on and Mike tied them.

"How do we leave?" Jake asked. Nora turned to Jake and pointed to the window.

"It's the safest way. We can't leave past Mom and Lorraine, they wouldn't even let you get up from the bed, let alone run away." Mike nodded enthusiastically, only sure of the basic gist of the conversation. Nora checked the out the door for a final time. Lorraine had fallen asleep in the chair and Kate was talking to a nurse. She didn't know how long it would be until she saw them again. Or Bud. Or Sarah. Charlie. Henry. Mark. Kyle and Nigel. Kim and Jessica. Her Dad. Or Tom. Her own child. She had to abandon him, to keep him safe, whatever this was would follow her and they would be safe. Unless...Nora swallowed hard, trying to ignore the sudden rush of emotion. She turned around to the window. Mike had already clambered out and was standing smiling on the other. Nora wasn't sure how much of this he understood. After all he was only seven. They would tell him what had happened eventually. The truth. But now it would be better that he was blissfully unaware.

"Are we going?" Mike asked. Nora smiled and nodded, she helped Jake climb out of the window and into the darkness. She cocked one leg over the window frame and then remembered she forgot something. She hopped back into the hospital room and grabbed Jake's hat from the bedside cabinet. Taking one last fleeting glance at her sister and mother, Nora jumped back out and closed the window silently behind her.

They headed down the side of the hospital, making sure to stay under the cover of the nearby trees. Each one was on red alert, any little noise, triggered a deep reaction in them, causing them to freeze up and stay perfectly still. But there was nothing. They reached the main entrance and no sign of the attacker. Nothing. 'Perhaps he only attacked once every day' Jake thought to himself. Nora, however, was still very tense, every movement, every sound, every smell. It was all cause for concern. Jake turned his head sideways, to glance out at the hospital entrance. It was pretty clear, since it was 2:00am in the morning.

"My car's just there." Nora pointed forward at a small, silver car. Jake nodded. Jake and Mike headed forward, but Nora yanked their shoulders and dragged them back into the shroud of trees.

"Oh god." She whispered to herself. Jake scanned the panicked look on her face and tipped his body back forward. It hit him instantly. The glaring face. The faint, but increasing laughter. The attacker was standing there, waiting for them. But Jake noticed something, he was staring directly at them. And moving. He was walking forward, there was just two hundred yards between them, and that size was decreasing. Jake turned back to Nora.

"We have to go back to the room!" He yelled at pace. Nora shook her head.

"No, we can't. It'll put Mom and Lorraine in danger. My car's just there. Come on" Nora yanked Jake and Mike's hands and pulled them over to her car. There was so little distance between them and the clown man now, it was insane. Nora helped Mike into the back seat and clicked his seatbeat in, while Jake shuffled into the passenger seat. He clicked his own seatbelt on, wincing in pain as the belt tightened over his stomach wound. But Nora forgot to check behind her.

"Hello!" The clown man rasped, his voice dark and evil. She spun around to find his hand at her throat. "Choke, little girl." He spat out. The hand tightened and Nora felt the air being squeezed out of her. She had one shot. She launched her left hand into the pit of his stomach. Surprisingly strong, considering he was just human. But even this caused the clown man to stumble back, long enough for Nora to roll over the bonnet of the car and unclick her door to the driver's seat. She clicked the seatbelt in and got Mike to lock the back two doors and Jake to lock his door. Nora pressed down the button on her own door, and the entire car was locked up. The clown man looked up, his mask slightly askew. Jake leaned away from his door, as the fists began to pound on the window, Nora noticed the glass beginning to break at the edges. She slammed her foot down on the acceleration, as she twisted the key in the ignition. The car jerked forward and slammed into the small concrete wall, just before it. The clown man reached into his leather jacket and yanked out a long, thin knife, that resembled a letter opener. He lunged at Jake's door, just above the lock. Mike whimpered and pressed his fists to his ears, trying desperately to block out the scratching sound. Nora, shifted her foot into the reverse pedal and slammed down, the car jerked back and stopped. It had stalled.

"No!" She screamed, fumbling around to grab her keys, that she had knocked out of the ignition. Jake looked up at a nurse, who was furiously struggling to stop the clown man. She grabbed his arm and held it behind his back, but he was too quick. Using his other arm, he elbowed her in the face and she crumpled to the ground. Finding her keys, she slammed them back into the ignition and reverse the car sharply. It swung around and out of the the hospital car park, straight to the entrance. But Nora stopped. Parked up next to the road leading into the car park, was Bud. His eyes heavy with sorrow. Nora smiled softly and slammed on down the road. Leaving Bud behind. Jake turned to her.

"Are you OK?" He asked. She nodded.

"I'm fine...so, where we headed?"


	4. On the Road

Jake stared blankly ahead, his eyes squinting against the fine sheen of moisture on the glass. His eyes were focused on memories, projecting the images into space and reading them through. Over and over. Again. Again. Again. Again. Jake massaged his temples, the pictures were crystal clear and just as painful as when they had first occurred. The pain continued to increase, not ceasing once. His teeth ground together. His whole body tensed up as he felt the car slowing down. Jake bolted his head up and saw Nora focused on the gas station before her.

"We have to stop, we're running on empty." Nora replied to Jake's silent question, her voice cold and hard. Jake had noticed Nora had beome quite separate from the others, seeing Bud had been too much for her. He could hardly imagine what must be going through her head. Clearly feelings of regret, sadness and most likely anger would be coursing through her veins. The car shuddered to a steady halt, the engine stalling several times before falling dead. Nora turned to Jake, her darting back and forth, from the windscreen to Jake's eyes. He felt his chest tighten and the lump in his throat returned.

"Look after, Mike. He's too tired to wake up but....just, look after him' Her eyes became heavy with anxiety. Jake nodded quickly before turning away, his eyes burning. Nora bit down on her bottom lip and unclicked the latch on the door. She slid out slowly and quietly, hastily grabbing the gas pump, without a second thought. Her hand quivered around the cold, wet metal as she heard the gasoline begin the chug through the ancient pipes and into the car. A large sigh escaped Nora's lips, she could cry right now. She could drown in her sorrows. Run back to Bud and he would tell her everything would be alright, and it would because he would promise. No. Now was not the time to break down. Jake and Mike needed her to be the responsible one, besides she was the only one that could drive. A weak splutter rumbled through her chest. It was a close to a laugh as she would get. The idea of Jake or Mike driving the car was faintly amusing, all the damage they would cause.

_Rustle_

Nora's whole body became instantly rigid, her response to sounds that were out of place. She hooked the pump back onto it's rusty latch. The balance read,

$42.95

Nora clambered back into the car like water rushing through a narrow passage. She patted Jake's shoulder reassurance. Her hand wandered above the gear lever as she pushed it up into third. The car trundled over to the payment booth. The man inside was young, his head down on the counter. She wound her window down slowly and tapped on the glass. He didn't so much as flinch. Typical. Asleep on the job. Nora slitthered her arm out the window and down onto the small ledge. She jumped back. Something sticky was on the ledge. Nora inhaled deeply. Iron smell. Blood. She craned her head higher and flung her eyes shut. There was a reason he wasn't moving. A small incision on the front of his neck allowed blood to pour out. Her foot found the acceleration instantly and her hand to the ignition. Twisting and pushing, the car found life again and sped off down the rain slicked roads, the tires sliding slightly.

Jake looked up at Nora, her white fists clenched hard on the steering wheel. Her bottom lip had begun to quiver. Jake went to ask her if she was alright, but she spoke up before he could get the words out.

'He was there. We have to keep going' Jake sunk back into his seat, a new feeling of panic washing over him. The leather squeaked from the back of the car, as Mike twisted over in his sleep. He woke suddenly, jolting around under his seatbelt. He begun to whimper softly, rubbing at his sweat soaked brow. Nora sighed.

'It's alright Mike. Everything'll be fine' Her voice was cold again, with no emotion. Jake shuffled around, wincing slightly at the pain. He smiled softly at Mike, but it was no use, his eyes were frantic with worry.

'Don't worry Mike, we'll speak to Mom soon' Nora commented, a strange warmth to her voice. Jake eyes bolted back open, his hands clenching down on his seat

_Mom?_


End file.
